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Ciara Kenny

The Irish Times forum by and for Irish citizens living overseas,

Emigration of Irish nationals falls 20% but 40,700 still left last year

Numbers going to Australia drop 35 per cent, new CSO figures show

Ciara Kenny

Ciara Kenny

Tue, Aug 26, 2014, 12:44

The Central Statistics Office has released the annual population and migration statistics for the 12 months to April this year. We have a full news report here, but the following is a breakdown of some of the main findings:

Number of Irish people leaving fell 20 per cent, from 50,900 to 40,700

A total of 81,900 people of all nationalities left in 2013/14, down 8 per cent on the previous year

60,600 immigrated, up from 55,900

11,600 Irish people returned home from abroad, down from 15,700 the previous year

47 per cent of emigrants had a third level qualifications

More than 16,000 were students before leaving

The UK is still the most popular destination, attracting 17,900 people from Ireland (a fall of 18 per cent on the previous year)

Australia saw the biggest fall in popularity, with numbers down 35 per cent from 15,400 to 10,000.

Canada also witnessed a drop, from 5,300 in 2012/13 to 4,700 in 2013/14